A thick blanket of fog shrouded the national Capital on Thursday keeping the visibility low and disrupting rail and flight operations.
The maximum temperature settled six notches below the season’s average at 14.5 degrees Celsius, which was 1.4 degrees more than Wednesday’s maximum while the minimum temperature was recorded at 7.2 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. The MeT department has predicted dense fog early in the morning which would make way to clear sky on Friday. “The visibility at 5.30 am was less than 20 metres and at 8.30 am, it was recorded less than 50 metres. It improved to 500 metres at 11.30 am and 700 metres at 2.30 pm but again reduced to 400 metres at 5.30 pm,” said a MeT department official. The humidity levels oscillated between 76-100 per cent.
Due to dense fog, several vehicles on the roads moved with their headlights on in the morning. Foggy conditions disrupted the operations of 56 north-bound trains including the Rajdhani trains coming from Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Dibrugarh which were running several hours late. Farakka Express, Mahabodhi Express, Gorakhdham Express and Kerala Express were also delayed due to fog, a Northern Railway official said, adding, 18 trains were rescheduled. Also, 15 flights were delayed due to low visibility, airport authorities said. The weatherman has predicted a foggy morning on Friday, however, the day is likely to witness clear sky. “It will be clear day tomorrow (Friday). There will be very dense fog in the morning. The minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover at 7 and 15 degrees Celsius,” said the MeT official.